The Seventh Spirit

by Adam-Clay Webb

  Finally, the flickering light had ended, and a faint darkness prevailed in Catherine’s eyes. The six sorcerers had surrounded the black-eyed woman, readied with mana and heavy hearts.

  Chapter 38: The Silver Saviour

  The toddler held his right palm out toward Zen and Lex. Almost suddenly, with no sign of effort or exertion, a shadow shell formed just before the boy’s open palms, nearly touching the ground. The energy from the shadow shell shook the place and made it difficult for them to breathe. There was a strong wind and the sphere pulled stones and dirt up into it.

  “To make a shadow shell that quickly,” Lex pondered, gathering up energy in his hands. “Zen!”

  “We’re covered!” Zen said, still on his back. The massive orb of power moved toward the couple with the will to destroy. The impact was almost like that of a small nuclear bomb. The toddler sent from his black aura tens of shadowy cords down into the ground to stand his ground against the massive wave of force. Everywhere went black, and all the battle fronts of Magma Town could feel even a slight effect of the blast. The boy moved quickly backward and the cords of darkness were sliced and he was hit by Zen’s attack. As the darkness cleared, Lex moved toward the backward-flying boy quickly and tossed a well-energized iceball at him. The block of ice landed, bits of it chipping off, and skated back on the now grassless ground – the shadow shell had wiped even the very grass from the soil.

  “Zen! Slice up the ice!” He felt the girl falling off him limply. “Huh?!” He turned quickly, snatching her body from the uncaring hands of gravity. He shook her nervously, looking back up at the frozen boy.

  “I’m sorry… Lex…” the girl muttered, and her consciousness drifted away.

  “Damn it,” the boy hissed.

  Maximo, lend me wings again for a moment.

  Lex!

  Now!

  Black wings appeared on his back. “Now I just need a second of your speed. You’ll get time to recoup after this!” He grabbed up the girl, looking up at the fidgeting block of ice, darkness evidently active inside it. As Lex expected, the ice suddenly shattered, sending out at high speeds sharp projectiles in every direction. He jumped off with Zen speedily, moving away from the boy and the fired bits of sharp ice. He glanced back in flight, the girl held tightly in his arms. Are you kidding?! The black-eyed boy jumped off in chase, two black wings enabling him. The Icemaker’s eyes grew wide as he perceived just how quickly the boy was gaining up on him. Lex gained more altitude as the host pursued valiantly, volleying with shadowballs that became increasingly difficult to evade. Lex hissed, one nearly grazing and taking off his side. He released Zen, then rushed toward the chaser with mighty speed, the speed of darkness. The Icemaker, whose eyes weren’t nearly as black as the toddler’s, sent a heavy punch on reaching the boy. Though the boy was a small target, Lex didn’t bother to miss. Being in his desperate situation, it wasn’t even slightly difficult for him to punch a boy who was probably half his age.

  The boy hurled down toward the earth quickly, sending shadowy streaks of dangerous darkness up at Lex. With much focus and swiftness, Lex evaded every assail, pushing down to the falling boy with a sphere of ice energy and a shadowball. “Here’s dinner!” Lex hurled the shadowball at the fast descending enemy. The child dodged the sphere narrowly, well not entirely. It grazed his left wing. Lex sent the iceball down immediately. The boy made another swift aerial turn, still falling. He somewhat escaped the ball – only somewhat. It grazed his right wing, and the parasitic energy quickly began its work. The wing infected with the ice vanished from the boy quickly, leaving a black mist in its place. Lex sent another iceball down at him with the remainder of his ice energy.

  The boy was unable to dodge properly, losing an entire wing and suffering damage to the other. The iceball slammed into the target, who was soon covered in thick layers of bluish ice. “Maximo! Give me this last blow!” Instantly, Lex’s eyes blackened densely, and two more wings jutted out from his back, doubling his top speed. Lex headed downward at the falling slab of ice at a force that made gravity seem trifling. With a darkly glowing fist and a mighty roar, Lex swooped down. His fist punched through and shattered the ice like it was thin glass. A deadly force hit the child, and in far less than a second, he plunged into the earth, sending shockwaves of quakes in every direction. The victorious Icemaker, without time to sigh or celebrate, flew back up to where Zen was, who actually hadn’t fallen very much during the swift battle in the air. He snatched the unconscious girl and headed downward with her, making as gentle a landing as possible, sending tremors and further cracks through the earth. He finally uttered a heavy sigh.

  “You saved me again…” he heard Zen whisper faintly.

  ***

  The six deadliest sorcerers of Notherland and probably the world lay scattered about, failing dismally to bring down the black-eyed woman. Catherina bolted toward the panting, bleeding Hawthorne, a fist of destructive potential pressuring a shadowball pulled back to kill the unmoving witch.

  “Anam Resalrepus!” Ellisa commanded, releasing a hefty beam of bright power. The mages covered their eyes as the beam of blinding mana headed toward Hawthorne and the nearby Catherina. Reflexive shields came over both Hawthorne and the enemy, but not strong enough to negate the impact of such a powerful attack. The mana blasted the two over nearly half a mile with energy more vicious than fire. The place became visible again and the two women were still rolling. Already, in clouds of clearing mana, the other five had surrounded them. They both appeared dead. Hawthorne was burnt up and her eyes were closed. Catherina, like Hawthorne, was bleeding all over, and the thick layer of powerful darkness was no longer protecting and empowering her. Purple and black mist rose from the woman who had led the Ogal council for about thirty years.

  “Recilsanam!” Quincy commanded, not leaving anything to chance. He dashed toward the lying body, gripping tightly the purple swords.

  “No!” Jadena shouted. “Senakken!” she commanded, and flashed purple mana at the aged wizard, who was about to heavy-heartedly kill his own sister, or at least the thing that was using her. His movement seized as his sword was raised to kill. Catherina stood quickly, summoning up and plunging a shadowball into the man’s chest, disintegrating his heart. The five stared on with expressions that hardly ever reached their faces. Black wings appeared on the host.

  “Chain Legion!” Oromaru summoned, and slammed his hands down on the earth, staring up at the already flying woman. Instantly, thousands of chains burst forth from the earth with great speed over an entire square mile, rushing toward the target in the air. The chains approached too fast, and in too great a number for the woman to simply evade them. Black swords appeared in her hands with no visible command or effort, and with speed and skill that belonged to a small portion of Trium, she attacked the incoming chains viciously. Though she was slicing up tens of snaky chains per second, a flawless escape would have been quite the task. There was a hellish cry in the air as chains burst through the black-eyed woman and wrapped themselves around her tightly. They were made of a metal a little stronger than steel.

  ***

  “Oga, stop joking around with the magicians and finish them off quickly,” Kizer said, sounding quite annoyed, making some minor movements with his pieces on the board. “Things are heating up at Libson and I need that third to fill a small gap for me.”

  “Lord Kizer, the sorcerers aren’t as weak as you might--”

  “Unless you want to go deal with them in person, finish things up with that black piece quickly. Understood?”

  “…Yes, Lord Kizer.”

  ***

  “Elitfo-ecnal!” Claybourne commanded and held out his right hand like he was holding up a royal flag at the front of a parade.

  “Recilsanam!” Oromaru commanded, materializing purple swords that shone like the purple lance that appeared in Claybourne’s hands.

  “Go forth!” they commanded, holding their weapons high. The swords and lance shot off toward the
chained, bellowing black-eyed woman. Before the weapons quite reached their target, the black spirit rushed from her eyes, leaving them pale. The chains that bound her were anti-mana chains, and prevented even spaceshifting – a good move to use against strong sorcerers. The black spirit flashed through the skies, moving with great speed.

  ***

  Oga clenched his teeth and veins stood firm in his forehead as he tried to resist the mighty pull that the far-away vial had on the spirit. Though powerful and legendary he was, he could do nothing to reverse or counter the technique he himself had created thousands of years before.

  ***

  Back at Magma Town, in the hot metal cabin, one of the witches opened her eyes, panting in exhaustion, dramatically weakening the technique at that overly critical moment. “Are you alright, ma’am?” Marco asked nervously, knowing that her break in the incantation couldn’t lead to anything good. The old woman sighed and worked her nearly numb fingers a little, then put her hand forward again, falling back into the incantation, adding stability to the technique again.

  ***

  “Look!” Ellisa shouted, pointing up at the fast-approaching black spirit. She grabbed the weakened Hawthorne and spaceshifted quickly. There were clusters of waste purple mana, and a huge impact and wave of force as the spirit struck ground. The sorcerers shifted back to the landing sight. They looked on with despondent faces as the black mist cleared, revealing the black-eyed Jadena, a thick cloak of dark power surrounding her.

  ***

  Oga made a heavy sigh, knowing that luck had just favoured him. There was no flashing of colour in her eyes, just a dense, heavy blackness that reflected the deadly power that had just overtaken her.

  ***

  “What the hell?!” Azar raved, staring with wide eyes at the strung up bodies of the most powerful Vinebenders of the era. He took a small sip of the liquid, pretty sure he was in for a fight. He shifted suddenly as he saw a black flash move toward him, too fast for him to clearly see what it was. He appeared meters back into the forest – or at least the debris that was left of the forest – saving himself from a heavy strike. He stared out at the black-eyed Vinebender before him. “Damn…” he muttered, “To think that I will have to kill such a pretty girl…” He knew that her power must have been awful, as she had taken down the legendary Leaf Sage and other notably powerful Vinebenders. Azar turned the flask to his head, draining it. He tightened his grip and shattered the thick glass easily. His body vibrated mightily as he felt a surge of power that he had never experienced before, not even in the strange pathway between life and death. Bright mana and flames surrounded his body, starting a forest fire instantly that quickly spread.

  ***

  “Where are we going, Lex?” Zen asked droopily, not sounding very sober. Lex continued running as fast as he could with her, seeing the small forest up ahead. “Are we gonna get married, Lex?”

  “What?!”

  “Where are--”

  “Stay here. I’ll find the enemy before he finds us here,” Lex told her, gently resting her against a tree at the edge of the forest.

  “Look,” Zen muttered in her dreamy voice, “look at the lights, Lex, pretty lights.” She giggled a little. Lex looked, wondering if she was losing her mind or if the drink had drunken her.

  “A forest fire?” Lex pondered, indeed seeing lights of flames in the distance. “This place can’t be safe then,” he decided.

  “Abingush!” he heard a familiar voice cry out from the distance, and as expected, a loud bang followed, then a hellish cry that was certainly not human.

  Azar… “He must be fighting alongside the Leaf Sage.”

  Lex turned to Zen sharply as he felt a firm grip on his arm. He saw a confused look on her face. “What’s this feeling?” she asked, looking quite perplexed. Lex could feel her hand vibrating. “This weird taste…” She sounded like her senses had returned. She stood briskly.

  “You mean that thing’s just kicking in??”

  “Why are we here? Let’s go!” she said, confusing Lex. She jumped up on the boy’s back without warning.

  “Huh?” Lex turned in the direction from which he was coming – the black-eyed boy had reached. He moved speedily toward them, black wings stretching out behind him. Lex positioned his hands to release ice energy immediately.

  An unseen force blasted the incoming host, and it shot off backwards, spreading its wings and landing on its feet, skating back.

  “Attack! I’ll cover us!” Zen strategized, feeling more vigour and life than she had ever felt before. The black-eyed boy sent a wicked barrage of shadowballs at Lex and Zen. Zen flung her arms around Lex’s neck, maintaining the force field almost effortlessly. The spheres struck the invisible wall, exploding into darkness. Lex moved through the clearing black mist, hurling spheres of ice at the enemy. The black-eyed boy moved about skilfully, moving back and dodging the iceballs as Lex moved forward upon him.

  “When there’s an opening, be sure to attack!” Lex told his partner.

  “Got it!”

  Lex continued to hurl iceballs at the retreating boy, trying to ignore the slight faintness and headache coming on. His mind flashed back to when he was battling Maximo’s other half inside himself, and how damaged he was at the end of the fight – him being his ice energy. Still, the current battle was going too smoothly for him to put too much thought to that and become even slightly pessimistic. The black-eyed boy slid backward on the spreading ice, flinging more shadowballs at his attackers, who didn’t even have to dodge them.

  ***

  The swift and skilful vinebending and rapid shadowballs seemed to contest Azar’s fire and highly advanced spells, but the young prince was about to step it up a notch, having other businesses to attend to.

  “Time for the ultimate elemental spell… Flame body technique!” he commanded. Suddenly, a thrilling blue fire enveloped the prince’s body, along with a cloak of mana. He bolted toward the enemy, blue fire and red mana tailing him. The Vinebender made her motions; vines and wood from below rushed to attack the fast-moving man. Realizing that such techniques were no longer enough to affect the speedy opponent, she slammed her palms down on the ground and a massive tree rose up before her. As Azar reached the house-sized tree, he vanished in a cloud of red mana, reappearing around the other side, maintaining his momentum. With one more step, he reached the black-eyed woman. Empowered by supreme fire, fifth grade mana and an unbreakable spirit to win, Azar’s fist rendered the woman’s reflexive shield of darkness near useless. His fist blasted her between her breasts, which he admired for that tiny moment.

  A wave of heat and force and mana was sent through her entire body. She was sent hurling back helplessly, gathering two shadowballs in her hands while moving back in the air, sending them off to where Azar was. But already, he was not there. Azar had just reached behind the backward-moving woman, not with spaceshifting, but with sheer speed. Bones cracked and spine shifted as Azar blasted a fist into the Vinebender’s back. Again, within the same second, Azar speedily ran and reached before the woman, landing a flaming kick in her belly. As she flew back amongst the trees, a beam of blue fire hit her. She uttered a hellish cry as the flames roaringly pushed her back, consuming the oversized trees in their path.

  The burning woman landed and rolled for meters, but quickly reached back on her feet, lunging over slightly. Azar clenched his teeth, forcing elemental fire and mana into a dense, jittering sphere. He crouched a little, then bolted with murderous speed toward the enemy. Four massive black wings appeared on the burning Vinebender, who was still covered in raging blue flames. She put her fingers together, forcing dark matter to condense to an unusual density. In a few seconds, she was holding the dark matter of a shadow shell, but in the size of a shadowball. In half a second, Azar and his enemy both covered many meters, striking with their powers with all their might.

  The super-dense shadow shell connected with Azar’s mighty bright sphere, and there was a phenomenal result. As both
energies repelled and exploded, there was an incredible and indescribable flash of darkness and light, and a massive wave of energy spread throughout the entire forest, flattening it completely, disintegrating every flower, every strand of grass, every square millimetre of wood, every leaf in the blast radius.

  ***

  A smirk of ecstatic thrill was now on Kizer’s face as he witnessed the beautiful clash of dark and light powers.

  ***

  The powerful prince skated back forcefully for meters on end, jamming his hands into the ground to steady himself. He saw the enemy quite some distance before him lying on the ground. They were at the edges of what was a forest only a second before.

  “Seems you haven’t had enough,” Azar muttered to himself, glaring out at the slowly standing woman. He clenched his fists and blue fire raged about him afresh. The Vinebender held out her hands and black swords appeared in them. Her burnt, broken wings regenerated quickly. “Recilsanam!” Azar commanded, summoning up two bright swords of mana, blue fire wrapped around them. He bolted toward the incoming Vinebender. A trail of blue fire was left behind Azar, and a black trail of dark matter extended behind the long-haired woman.

  ***

  “It seems I am forced to show them the power of black magic,” Oga muttered, a solemn look on his face as if he regretted being pushed to use such measures. The four top-class mages surrounded the black-eyed witch. Purple mana glowed about her. The mana’s hue darkened and deepened, until it was completely black. Black mana orbited the witch, who began to levitate.